Steel Magnolias -- #20

Good morning, Flowers!
The "Batman" has been here and gone. They found where the bats are getting in . . . it's where we added on to the house a few years ago. They installed the trap, I wrote the check, and they left. We had an article in our state and area newspapers about him and he said the national news has picked up on it. He is getting calls from as far away as Georgia and all over the U.S. After he was done, he shared a few HORROR stories that they have encountered . . . one being a mother who found 8, yes 8, bats on her sleeping baby one morning! The poor baby had to have the rabies shots just to make sure it hadn't been bitten.

I have laundry going and need to make a grocery list. I don't like to cook and I am getting worse by the day. The simpler, the better I like it.

"Gma" -- I'm glad you got the pool issue settled and you are still able to use the pool. Don't any of the board members or other owners ever use it? You'd think others would be as upset with the vandalism as you are. I hope the juvenile delinquents can't climb the fence to get in when it is locked up. I did read about the Cubans making boats out of cars. I agree with everything you said. I hate to think what this country will be in 10 years if the government doesn't do something about it pretty soon. At the end of the school year the office posts a list of who owes book fees, fines, etc., and it is almost all Mexican names. The majority don't pay up then either. I'd venture to bet they all qualify for free and reduced lunches too. Our summer school numbers sky rocketed when it was announced they would serve free breakfasts and lunches. GRRRRR! Makes me so very angry when we have always paid our way!

Not much else is going on in my neighborhood. I'm hoping when the bats move on, they go south to the cat-haters' house! *BIG GRIN*

Jean: Ooohh 8 bats! As Ricky Ricardo would say Aye Yi Yi! Glad you got your problem solved. I already have ? as to why the pool is not open today. I cleaned the mess up this AM, did my workout and locked it up and told people straight out what was going on and encouraged them to go to the monthly board meeting. IF the RESIDENTS would all pitch in, we could whip this think, I am sure of it. No, most of the board members are older and don't use the pool at all.

I put on a new tracker for my mini goal to Vegas. I hope it spurs me on. I have lost a nice fat 11 lbs so far and I sure hope to be at the number I want to be when we start out for sin city. I belong to a Vegas talk website and have been told the airlines we are using is quite nice and the first class is great so I am really getting excited now. I have been breaking my new suit in a little bit so it stretches just a bit. I am a little long in the stride for it so it kind of pulls at the neck (I have a neck clasp on it) I have all my vacation clothes, my fake tan spray, my sunscreen and my books. All I need is a bright green pair of sandals and a coupon book or two and I am all set to go! I know, I still have a little less than 11 weeks but it gets closer everyday!

We decided to make a whole weekend of it over the 4th so we are going to leave Friday night to go to Nashville. It will be so good to be away from this pool mess and the animals just for a couple of days. We can sit in the room for all I care!

Not much news here. I cleaned house today so now it is all nice for the weekend. I guess I better get me a bite of lunch

Good Morning! Oops, guess I should have said "good afternoon!" I've been trying to shop online and finally gave up. I wanted a new nightie for vacation and thought by putting in the brand name I could go right to the site and order. WRONG! I put in Vanity Fair and got a magazine, I think. In a round about way, I finally did find it but the sizing is not the same as what I have bought before so will wait and buy it in the store the next time I'm in Sioux City. I need to plan ahead a little better! *sigh*

We got up to rain but it is clearing off. It's a little humid but only 76 degrees outside.

Last evening DH stood out in the yard with his binoculars trying to see if any bats are coming out of the attic. I'll bet the neighbors wondered what he was up to. You can see the bat trap from the edge of our lot; the batman said they will come out right at dusk, but not if it is raining. (The batman can tell where they are getting in and out because there is a pile of bat poop on the roof right beside the overhang where the second story attaches to the addition.) I guess the bats and DH have a different idea of when it is dusk because he didn't see any. We were assured that where there is one, there are more. Joy!

DH is out cleaning the inside of his pickup and the car. He travels on gravel roads to see his farmers so I can understand why his gets so dirty. I avoid gravel if at all possible but mine still gets dusty inside. I think the heat/air conditioning leave a film on the windows.

I have laundry going and we won't be eating tomorrow if I don't go to the store today. I've been putting it off as long as possible. I need to dream up some food to fix and take to MIL's tomorrow. Right now nothing sounds good. I try to make enough so I can leave some leftovers for her to have. I'd opt for eating out but she never wants to. They never did when DH was a kid so I suppose it is hard for her to get out of that habit. She is so good about fixing meals and freezing part so she does eat good.

"Gma" -- If I found a bat on my baby, we would be staying at the local motel! A dead one is spooky enough! Congrats on the 11#s that are gone forever! I just can't seem to get going . . . one week I lose, and the next week I gain. I've been playing with the same 5#s for so long. A weekend away sounds like fun! We will be leaving next Saturday, the 18th. We should be gone for the whole week but DH's brother called from AZ and he may be at MIL's that week which means we will come back a day or two early so DH can visit with him. We'll see, I guess. I really don't care as long as I get to shop in the St. Cloud mall and eat lunch at the Olive Garden.

Morning ladies! It is breezy and pleasant, but rainy today, though not raining at the moment.

Jean: That's what they say about rodents too. If there is one, there are more, but maybe yours was Count Dracula and there is only one of him! I love Olive Garden and their soup and salad lunch is great. I love their pasta fagioli soup. I am a big Chicken Alfredo nut, which is about 2000 Cal and mostly fat I think, but their Linguine with Marinara is nice too and not fattening at all. Jean, try putting in vanity fair lingerie in the search engine and I got a whole bunch of hits.

We were bad children and went down and ate at the casino buffet yesterday. I actually didn't do bad, but ate badly the rest of the darn day. I am back to being disciplined today though. I talked with our server about whether or not folks left tips for them (since they don't serve food, just drinks) and she said some yes some no. She got 40 cents from one table. I told her next time that happened to walk up to them if she sees them leave and tell them they forget their change. If they say it is her tip, tell them to keep it, they must need it more than she! Course, this could get her fired I suppose! She was a lovely young woman from Cuba whose husband is a chef at one of the fancy Italian restaurants at one of the other casinos.

The pool remains closed as the rope is not repaired, but I get to go and do my exercises. The people next door stood in their upstairs window and watched me yesterday morning, probably fuming the pool was closed to them and not to me, but I did get permission without even asking for it! I will deal with that when it comes up, as I am sure it will sooner or later. I only help watch the pool, I do not make the rules nor do I have final say so on everything, though the assoc president pretty much lets me do what I want as long as he doesn't have to deal with anything!

Good Evening, Flowers!
We just got home from spending the day at MIL's along with Jason, Amanda, Ian, and Zowie. Ian is a "kid on the run" and someone has to be with him every second. He thinks every dock is public property and if he sees anyone around he is yelling, "hi" to them. Some younger kids were riding scooters and he wanted a turn so he was standing at the end of our drive yelling, "hi, hi, hi," and they just ignored him. I felt bad for Ian and thought the kids could have at least said "hi" back to him. We took the boat out for an hour and I have sunburned "knee tops." I don't know why nothing else burned.

"Gma" -- I look forward to my once-a-year visit to the Olive Garden. DH always tips the drink servers; his theory is that if you tip "well" you will get good service. I will give the vfl address a whirl and see what I come up with. The store where I usually buy it advertises a website but it is all about working for the company and not shopping. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the pool!

Morning everybody! It is supposed to be hot hot hot today near 100 degrees. My poor dh. Hope he doesn't have to work outside today. They wear heavy navy pants and dark blue shirts so they will cook today outside or in one of those blower buildings, which reach about 140 in the summer months.

I am going to open the pool for a few hours today even without the rope. One of the officers of the association hinted most pools no longer have the rope and we do have the depth in ft printed on the pool so.....I am just not going to do what I did before.

I am getting pretty brown already. I have a pink nose, but most of me is getting brown, which is nice. Well, that is not true, most of my upper body is brown. My legs are still totally white!

Jean: Poor little Ian. Most kids are just wrapped up in themselves, especially if they were older kids. Thomas thinks he is a grown up sometimes. They are supposed to come here the 24th for a cookout for his birthday. I have to get on the stick and get his presents. We are getting him a soccer jersey with a T-rex on it, some movie coupons and a set of soccer nets for his yard to practice as he is going to play fall soccer again. They haven't said a word about Father's Day so I don't know what her plans are for that. We usually go out to dinner.

We have been looking at what buffets we want to try in Las Vegas. There is one buffet at the Bally's downtown, which is $58 apiece! Can you imagine paying that? I am sure they have expensive stuff, but still. I couldn't eat $58 worth of stuff if I had not eaten for a week! We are planning on going to the Bellagio's buffet for lunch, which is a little pricey, but they have unusual stuff like venison, buffalo, and the like. I have a website where I can go and get all kinds of reviews for food, hotel, shows etc from people who have visited not just book and newspaper critics so I can get an idea whether or not to try it. Most hotels give coupon books or sheets so I thought we would get them in every place we wanted to try their buffet and maybe we could eat 2 for 1! It is worth a try. Jack is going to request an upgrade at the hotel and if not then free internet service. They charge $10 a day for high speed internet and 75 cents per phone call for only so many minutes. We always take the laptop as it is a good way to get directions to places we want to visit and don't know where it is at.

Good Morning, Flowers!
I'm waiting for my car to come back from having the oil changed. It is supposed to be smart enough to tell me when and the garage sticker always says it should be sooner than the computer says. DH thought maybe we should do it before we leave for MN on Saturday. It's cloudy and cool here today with thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon.

I have the end of last weeks laundry going and need to vacuum up the fur hunks.

"Gma" -- We will be in MN for Father's Day which would also have been my mother's 89th birthday. She's been gone for 11 years on July 5th, doesn't seem possible. Enjoy yourself at the pool! Someone would have to pay me $58 to eat buffalo, venison, etc. Now if it were a dessert bar, that would be a different story! I always wish that buffets would cut their desserts into bite sized pieces so that I could try several different ones. I can usually talk DH into taking something different than I do and then we share.

Afternoon! You could cook a Christmas goose outside here today! I opened the pool for a few hours and so far so good. I think the trouble makers show up after working hours so I may just close the darn thing later this afternoon. Jack says he worked outside all day today and wanted to know whether I would go to the pool with him. I told him sure. You know me, I would stay in there if I could!

Jean: Vegas has a cafe called the Chocolate Swan. Guess what that is??? We have never been but my Vegas website was raving about the desserts though they are expensive. I can't wait to see what they have! I am a true chocoholic anything. I don't like mocha anything though as I detest coffee for the most part. I was told by a friend of ours that runs a garage and has for probably 30 years that the 3000 mile rule is just a way for them to get your money. He said you can drive twice that before getting it changed. We tend to stick close to 3000 but usually are over by 1000 miles or so. I know when we get back from vacation we are going to have to get lots of maintenance done, like new shocks, brakes etc. Everything will be due at the same time. The nice thing is our tune up is only every 100,000 and as we only had that done recently we will be ok for awhile!

I got an e-mail from my sister in Ca. Her dh is ill and won't go to the dr. He is the one that had a heart attack 2 weeks before Jack and he is also diabetic. She said for a couple weeks he has been biting everyone's head off and sat in church and just stared like he was in a trance. He is a workaholic, but this morning went and got into the shower, came out and told her he was going back to bed. He is so stubborn and I asked her if she realized he was going to make her a widow if he didn't go. Grumpiness is a sure sign that either or both of his problems, his bp or his sugar is messed up, the staring is a sugar thing and then his tiredness can be both. I sure hope she or her kids can convince him to go. I am really worried about it. I guess when he had his heart attack, he had pains for a week and only went to the hospital (actually only to the dr) when my nephew in law, who he is really close to called and said he was flying out there to take him to the dr. They discovered he had been having a heart attack the whole time. He is lucky he isn't dead! I can't believe he is so lacsidaisical about this. Jack is scared stiff to have a chest twinge and goes to his cardiologist religiously.

Hi! It's another hot one today but we have both AC's working and that has helped. Not like whole house AC but it will do.

Jean: It is hard to have little kids ignored by the older ones. They are too little to realize that their day will come and they are so anxious to be like the older guys. Ian sure sounds like a friendly and outgoing little guy.

Faye: Your sure going to have a great time in Vegas. All your prep will insure that. Sounds like you have a great site to visit and learn about Vegas. Would you mind letting me know what it is? I think I would love to explore it and learn more about Vegas.....maybe another visit in 2 years for our 50th Anniversary.
I'm glad you are still able to get your swims in and not have to really be responsible for the other idiots who have no respect for property.

Gloria in MA.....keeping cool. I need to get my act together and see what I can come up with for tomorrow's lunch....DD#3 will be visiting with Dgd--5yrs.
This is the last time she can make the trip without the 2 boys and trying to take 3 kids for a round trip here is not easy. (2 hours on the road) UGH!

Good Evening! The temperature has dropped 20+ degrees since 5:30 and we had a half hour of heavy rain. I'm sure that somebody got some hail somewhere. We're in a storm watch until 11 PM.

"Gma" -- My car ended up getting the 30,000 mile "check up" to the tune of $262! It only has 29,000+ on it but I suppose they figured since they don't see it very often, they would give it the works. They replaced a fuel filter dodingus and a tire pressure sensor for $.65; probably charged $50 to put it on although labor was not listed separately. Oh well, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Your BIL sounds like my grandpa; he had a ruptured appendix when my mom finally threatened to get a court order to get him to a doctor! He was a stubborn old German who thought he had the flu! I hope he will go to the doctor. I'd like to look at your Vegas site if you wouldn't mind sharing. Someday I will get there!

Gloria -- Ian always has a big smile and a happy little kid. He likes everybody and visits with people in stores. He has the biggest blue eyes and blond curly hair -- a real charmer that the girls are going to love someday. He has grown up so much in the last 6 months since he started putting sentences together. His parents are not pushing the potty training and he could have been trained a long time ago. He tells them after the fact and will take his diaper off and use his potty chair when the mood strikes him to do so. But I keep my opinion to myself on that one! Enjoy your visit with your daughter and grandson!

I'm off to watch some TV, whatever is on before the 10:00 news. What do you think of the Michael Jackson verdict? I think he is guilty just like OJ was! He is so very weird!

Good Morning, Flowers! The sun is peeking out but it is so windy and only 68 degrees . . . kind of "brry" outside. I went in at 8 for my lab work and the first thing she hands me a pee cup. I'm sure I haven't done one of those since I was pregnant 27 years ago! I'd just gone before I left home so came back home with my cup. Now I have to take it in on my way to run a couple errands. I'm trying to get organized so we don't have to be running around so much on Friday but I feel like the harder I try the behinder I'm getting. We have a vocal group coming to sing at church Friday night and DH wants to go listen to them. Like I won't have anything else to do on Friday night! *sigh*

Gloria -- Today on Paul Harvey, he listed all of the famous people who have been found not guilty at their trials, OJ, etc. Then he ended by saying he wondered what Martha Stewart was thinking about right now. I personally don't think she was guilty of anything that others haven't done before her, she just got caught. Making an example out of her certainly isn't going to stop that from happening again.

Good Evening, Flowers!
We spent the afternoon with Beth, Amanda, and the four little ones. Maddy and Ian wanted to play outside. . .I wish I had their energy! We made a quick trip through SAM's Club and I stopped at the mall. My favorite department store has quit carrying my favorite brand of night gown! GRRRRR! I did find it online but the sizing is different than what I've bought before so hate to order it and have to send it back. I bought another brand and hope it will fit the same.

DH mowed when we got home and I should have vacuumed up fur hunks. I swear I should have bald cats! I will do it tomorrow when there will be more, I'm sure.

"Gma" -- I remember the uninvited advice when Jason was little. We didn't get much because we lived in Ohio at the time. Over the years I've learned to let MIL talk and then go ahead and do what I want anyhow. Today when I talked to Amanda on the phone, I could hear Ian clapping in the background. He had been running around naked all morning, and going potty by himself! I had to laugh and told her to explain that one to the daycare lady! Our kids live about an hour away from us and both in the same direction. They live about a half hour from each other; Jason just works a few blocks from where Beth lives. I feel fortunate that they are so close, but not too close. Will's family is so different from our's; he can't believe that we call and talk on the phone just to talk. His parents, brother, and sister all live in the same city -- the only time they call is if they want something.

Guess I will catch the end of the news and head for bed. Tomorrow is mammogram day. Have a terrific Thursday tomorrow!

Jean: I don't know what it is about kids and being naked. I don't know one that doesn't go through it sometime in their life. Course, it is a little more disturbing if they wait until their 16..... I guess I am being a smarty pants because I just read this hilarious Trip Report someone did. They called it going to Vegas on the cheap or something like that and it was all about how they usually stayed at the Bellagio, ate at fancy restaurants etc but decided to see what it would be like to save money and do it like the budget tourists do. He talks about instead of expensive airline tickets they had themselves UPS'd to the Bus Stop, instead of paying for expensive buffets, went to the Costco buffet (the little ladies who gives samples) and on an on becoming more and more ridiculous but totally hilarious. It was really funny and since some of those people are totally obsessed with saving a buck, you could see the tongue in cheek.

**Jean, this is a suggestion. You seem to constantly be going to some kind of dr, dentist, test or whatever. I suggest, you lump them all into one day and get it over with! That way, you have the rest of the year to get over any pain! I'm just kidding. You just seem to have had a lot of tests, etc the last couple months. Oh and, cat hair is better than husband hair. I truly don't know why he isn't completely bald with what I find in the bathroom everyday. Should I be vacuuming him?????

I think I am going to go to the pool early today and get it over with. I am kind of pooped as I didn't sleep well last night. Course, it will probably wake me right up!

Everyone have a great day

Faye

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